There was a boy who was always losing his
temper. His father gave him a bag full of
nails and said to him, “My son, I want you
to hammer a nail into our garden fence
every time you need to direct your anger
against something and you lose your temper.”
So the son started to follow his father’s
advice. On the first day he hammered in 37
nails, but getting the nails into the fence
was not easy, so he started trying to
control himself when he got angry. As the
days went by, he was hammering in less
nails, and within weeks he was able to
control himself and was able to refrain
from getting angry and from hammering
nails. He came to his father and told him
what he had achieved. His father was happy
with his efforts and said to him: “But now,
my son, you have to take out a nail for
every day that you do not get angry.”
The son started to take out the nails for
each day that he did not get angry, until
there were no nails left in the fence.
He came to his father and told him what he
had achieved. His father took him to the
fence and said, “My son, you have done
well, but look at these holes in the fence.
This fence will never be the same again.”
Then he added: “When you say things in a
state of anger, they leave marks like these
holes on the hearts of others. You can stab
a person and withdraw the knife but it
doesn’t matter how many times you say ‘I’m
sorry,’ because the wound will remain.
